Teaching triumph for Otago Polytechnic

It’s been an extraordinary teaching
triumph for Otago Polytechnic, with the announcement seven
staff members have received the prestigious Ako Aotearoa
Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award, celebrating New
Zealand’s finest tertiary teachers.

Established in 2001,
the Awards recognise some of the nation’s most outstanding
teachers, with a key focus on rewarding teaching practices
that are student-focused and committed to promoting
effective learning.

The Otago Polytechnic recipients are
seven of the total 16 educators to be honoured – sharing
12 awards. Each will take home $20,000 in recognition of
their achievement

Otago Polytechnic’s Chief Executive
Phil Ker says each staff member is extremely deserving of
the award. “It’s such a wonderful achievement for the
recipients, each of whom inspires and motivates their
students through their passion, expertise and a willingness
to push boundaries. It’s fantastic that so many have been
acknowledged by the Awards Committee,” he says.

“I
also feel very proud that we have 14 well-deserving Otago
Polytechnic lecturers that have been honoured at these
prestigious Awards over the past seven years. It is
gratifying and rewarding to see our talented teaching staff
being recognised nationally and a testament to the teaching
quality at Otago Polytechnic. Our students are very
lucky.”

Since 2001, more than 130 teachers have been
celebrated through the Awards, which are formally presented
at a function at Parliament and often hosted by the Prime
Minister or Minister for Tertiary
Education.

Reaping
accolades in the fiercely competitive culinary word is
becoming a regular occurrence at Otago Polytechnic’s Food
Design Institute. Most recently, the well-established
Bachelor of Culinary Arts (BCA) team have become recipients
of the National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award; the
first from Otago Polytechnic, to win an award as a
team.

Led by the BCA team, the Bachelor of Culinary Arts
programme is one of the only design-led culinary arts
degrees in the world, fuelled by innovation and adventure in
cooking. “The course doesn’t have a cookie-cutter
approach to how we teach,” says BCA Senior Lecturer, Tony
Heptinstall. “The students produce individualised
projects, gain individualised learning and chose their own
destination through our programme.”

The BCA team’s
appetite for sharing culinary innovation has led to the
abandonment of the master-apprentice model of education;
replacing it with a customised programme in which teachers
and students co-create the knowledge and
learning.

“It’s not only the teacher delivering the
programme to the student; it’s the student feeding us
knowledge back, and that expands the programme,” says BCA
Lecturer, Stephen Ellwood. “With the student being
engaged, they ask more questions and they have more
ideas.”

Mr Heptinstall says they encourage their
students to question everything. “One of our major mottos
is not ‘Yes, chef’, it’s ‘Why, chef?’
”

BCA Senior Lecturer Daniel Pfyl says their team
works so well together because “we are open to all ideas,
have robust discussions and always keep the students at the
forefront of our teaching and learning”.

Judith
Roddick – Principal Lecturer, School of
Nursing

School of Nursing Principal Lecturer
Judith Roddick has been teaching at Otago Polytechnic for
over 29 years. A revered staff member among staff and
students, she has an unwavering passion to share her
knowledge.

“I love the students. I’m here because
I’ve got a passion for passing on information,” says Mrs
Roddick. “I’m an educator, but firstly, I’m a nurse
and my mission in life is to improve the health services and
health care that students give to people, particularly those
that are disadvantaged.”

One of her primary teaching
philosophies is to respect students. “I respect them for
their opinions and would never put them down, because I
think you need to be able to let a student say what is on
their mind, because otherwise learning doesn’t
occur.”

Caroline McCaw is not only an Academic
Leader and a lecturer at the School of Design; she’s a
designer and advocate for community-based arts and culture.
She’s been with the Otago Polytechnic School of Design
since 2006, inspiring and mentoring students to become
well-adjusted, confident graduates that have a social
conscience.

“I really like helping students to see they
have a place in society as creative people, and they can go
out and change the world,” says Ms McCaw. “I like to
help them find ways they can do this so they are passionate
about their work and hopefully, can respond to some sort of
community need. When those things come together, it’s
magic.”

Ms McCaw says winning this award is an honour.
“I am indebted to the fantastic team of lecturers I work
with, to Otago Polytechnic for supporting me, and the many
people in Dunedin who have had the faith to take on design
students so that we grow together.”

Frontier Touring has today announced that the Foo Fighters will play a last minute intimate and exclusive benefit show at the Auckland Town Hall this Friday February 20 with all profits going to The New Zealand Music Foundation. More>>

ALSO:

Six short-listed designs for the Canterbury Earthquake Memorial have been released for public input... The Memorial will honour the victims of Canterbury’s earthquakes and acknowledge the suffering of all those who lived through them as well as the heroism of those who participated in the rescue and recovery operations. More>>

ALSO:

Social justice advocate Celia Lashlie leaves a legacy that will continue to have a positive impact on the lives of New Zealanders for years to come, Labour Leader Andrew Little says. “Celia was a powerful voice for reason, sense and compassion. Her work, particularly with teenage boys, was ground-breaking." More>>